


A Furry Little Problem

by RizaHawkeyePierce



Series: Magical Youths' Guide to Growing Up [1]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Angst, Friendship, Gen, Hogwarts, Hurt/Comfort, Marauders, Marauders Era (Harry Potter), Marauders Friendship (Harry Potter), Panic Attacks, Pre-Canon, Trauma, Werewolf Remus Lupin
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-09
Updated: 2020-09-09
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:54:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26369824
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RizaHawkeyePierce/pseuds/RizaHawkeyePierce
Summary: Early in their second year, James and Sirius stumble on Remus' secret.
Relationships: Sirius Black & Remus Lupin & Peter Pettigrew & James Potter
Series: Magical Youths' Guide to Growing Up [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1916311
Comments: 4
Kudos: 19





	1. Chapter 1

James and Sirius sat on the floor of their dormitory, finishing the year’s first Astronomy homework. It had been a long summer, and James wished there had been a few days they could just relax at Hogwarts before being tossed back into schoolwork, but...

“Ha, finished!” said Sirius, marking his last answer with a flourish of his quill. “You owe me five Sickles.”

James snorted. “Let me see,” he said, holding out a hand. Sirius handed him the star chart, and James checked the answers against the book. “Fine,” he said, annoyed. He passed back Sirius’ chart, crawled to the trunk at the foot of his bed and started fishing around for his money bag. He threw the five coins at Sirius, who gathered them up, laughing.

“Double or nothing on Potions?” Sirius offered, jingling the coins.

“Ha, you’re only saying that because Potions is my worst subject.”

“Damn right, I am.”

“How about DADA?”

James sighed. “Fine, but you’ll have to wait for me to finish this.” He waved his star chart.

Sirius grinned. “Don’t worry, I’ll spend the time resting up.” He lay back on the floor and closed his eyes.

James frowned down at his chart, flipping through the book to find the phases of the moon. He looked at the chart for a moment, bent down to copy something onto his homework, then stopped and picked up the book again. He ran his finger down a list of dates, then lunged for his DADA book, flipping through it.

Sirius opened his eyes. “Hey, no fair starting without me,” he said, reaching for his own DADA book.

James looked up. “He’s a werewolf.”

“What? Who?”

“Remus.”

Sirius sat up, his mouth slightly open. “No. He can’t be.”

“Why not?”

“Because—Because no one would let a werewolf come to school with normal people. They’re dangerous.”

James rolled his eyes. “They’re only dangerous during the full moon. They’re normal otherwise.”

“I’ve heard about werewolves who wait around other people until they’re ready to transform, just to bite as many people as possible. There’s no way parents would want their kids around a werewolf.”

“That’s obviously why you wouldn’t tell anyone. But look at this,” he said, shoving the Astronomy book across the floor. “Look at the last full moon. Two days ago. When did Remus disappear last?”

“That’s a coincidence—“

“Look at last year. He missed your birthday last year. When was the full moon?”

“He said his mother was ill—“

“He was gone during finals, remember – look at the dates, all of them, they all match up. And he always comes back looking ill—it’s the only thing that makes sense!”

“Are you telling me this whole time I’ve been sharing a room with a—“

The door creaked open and Remus poked his head inside. “Are you two finished with Astronomy? Peter needs help and I have my own homework to do.” He looked from one to the other. “What’s going on?”

“It’s nothing,” said James quickly, hitching a grin on his face. “Sirius just lost a bet. Tell Peter we’ll be down to help in a minute.”

Remus hesitated, then nodded and withdrew.

Sirius looked down at the full moon calendar. “You’re wrong. A Galleon says he won’t disappear on the first of October.”

“You’re on,” said James, staring after Remus.

  
  


On the morning of October 2nd, Remus lay, naked and shivering, on the rough wood floor of the Shrieking Shack. The aftermath of a transformation was always disorienting, and he lay still for a minute or two to get his bearings. Eventually he sat up, gingerly, wincing as pain stabbed through his head. He checked himself over. One long scratch went up his left side and was bleeding down his leg, but other than bruises that seemed to be the extent of his injuries. He sighed in relief, and, pressing a hand to the scratch to slow the bleeding, he pulled up the trapdoor to find his clothes neatly folded in the tunnel below. There was also a pile of bandages, which he applied to his side before dressing himself. When he was finished he lowered himself slowly into the tunnel and started to stagger back to Hogwarts.

After being seen to by Miss Pomfrey (who was able to stop his bleeding but not much more), he trudged back up to Gryffindor Tower, feeling dizzy, feverish, and exhausted, as usual. There was no one in the common room, fortunately (he’d had to explain why he returned from an early-morning walk looking like he’d been beaten up before), and he was looking forward to sleeping for an hour or so before he had to go to class. To his surprise, when he opened the door, he found James and Sirius sitting on their beds. Peter’s hangings were still closed, with soft snores coming from behind them.

James looked over at Sirius, “I do believe you owe me a Galleon,” he said, grinning. Sirius scowled.

Remus felt his palms break into a sweat. “What’s the bet?” he asked, trying to keep his voice casual.

“Whether you would disappear on the full moon again,” said Sirius.

Remus’ mouth dropped open. _They know._ “Oh, sorry, I forgot to tell you,” he babbled, his hand gripping the hair at the back of his head, hardly knowing what he was saying. “My—my family’s dog died, so I had to—you know, since my—my mum’s been sick I had to go—“

“You’re a werewolf, aren’t you?” said Sirius, staring at him.

  
  


James glanced over at Sirius as he said this, then back at Remus. Remus, already pale when he’d come in, had gone grey. He stood frozen, looking from one to the other.

“Remus…” James said quietly.

“P-Please don’t tell anyone!” Remus burst out finally, staring at the floor. “I’ll—I’ll do whatever you want, I’ll do all your homework or whatever you want me to do! I know—I know you probably don’t want to share a room with—with—with someone like me—“

James glanced at Sirius again, who looked ashamed. “Mate, look—“ Sirius started, standing up, but Remus backed away, still babbling, sounding near tears.

“But I’ll ask Professor Dumbledore if I can stay somewhere else—maybe at the Shrieking Shack, and I won’t bother you anymore, I promise, and you won’t have to talk to me or anything—“

This was too much for James, who crossed the room to Remus, who had backed himself against the wall at this point, and laid a hand on his shoulder. Remus flinched slightly at his touch and stared at the floor. James could feel him shaking. 

“Listen, Remus,” he said, “you’re our friend, okay? And you won’t stop being our friend because you have a—problem. Right?” He turned to Sirius, who looked near tears himself.

“Right. ‘Course,” said Sirius.

Such obvious relief washed over Remus’s face that it made James feel sick and angry—and ashamed. How many times had Remus had to go through this? Remus swayed slightly and James steadied him.

“Okay, you need to sit down. Come on,” he said, helping Remus toward his bed. Sirius rushed to the pitcher on the bedside stand and brought a glass of water.

“Thanks,” said Remus, taking the glass. He took one drink, covered his face with his other hand, and started to sob.

“Aww, mate, it’s all right,” said Sirius, sitting down next to Remus and putting an arm around him. James sat on the other side and did the same.

Remus’ sobs subsided after a little while. “Sorry,” he muttered, wiping his face with his handkerchief.

“Don’t worry about it,” said James. Sirius shook his head harshly, stood up, and walked to the window.

“I’m the one who should be sorry. I believed what my parents told me about werewolves, and I didn’t think… I’m sorry.” He turned back to Remus, who smiled at him weakly.

Remus looked at his watch and sighed. “I might as well get ready for class.”

Sirius looked at him like he was insane. “You’re going to class? Now?”

Remus nodded.

“No,” said James, “Go to sleep. We’ll tell everyone you’re sick and get your homework for you.”

Remus looked like he was going to resist, but thought better of it. He kicked off his shoes, crawled fully clothed into bed, and pulled the hangings closed behind him. James and Sirius heard him snoring a minute later.

After getting dressed, Sirius stared at Remus’ closed hangings for a moment, swore under his breath and stormed out of the room. James hurried after him, still pulling on a shoe.

Sirius strode all the way down to the entrance hall, and James, who was several inches shorter, did his best to keep up. Instead of going into the Great Hall for breakfast, Sirius pushed open the front doors and headed out to the grounds.

Once outside, Sirius let out a string of swearwords that made the few students taking a morning walk stare at him. He gestured rudely at them until they headed back inside, deeply offended. Sirius continued his march until he reached the lake, where he grabbed several stones and started hurling them into the lake in fury. James watched for a moment and joined in, throwing the stones as hard as possible. Eventually Sirius picked up a rock that was much too large. He tried to throw it, but it landed short of the water, so he kicked it, grunted in pain, and fell into a sitting position with his head in his hands.

“Why did it have to be him, James?”

“I don’t know.” James threw his last stone and sat down beside Sirius.

“He’s the best person we know.”

James nodded. He was.

“It’s not fair.”

They stared out over the water for a moment.

“We have to help him,” said James.

“How?”

“I don’t know. We’ll think of something.”


	2. Chapter 2

A few nights later, the boys were getting ready for bed. Remus, as usual, took his pajamas from his trunk and retreated behind his bed hangings to change into them.

“Remus?” called James.

“Hmm?” came Remus’ response from behind the curtain.

“Why do you always hide in there to change?”

“Oh.” Remus paused. “Habit, I guess.” He emerged cautiously, shirtless. The other boys stared at him. “This might make my…problem,” he half-smiled at James, “pretty obvious.”

Long, ropy scars stretched across Remus’ chest and back, all in sets of three or four, interrupted by torn patches here and there. James whistled.

“Well, if you ever want to intimidate someone…”

“Don’t be ridiculous, he’s still scrawny – it looks like he was run over by a herd of hippogriffs,” said Sirius. “What did you do, mate?”

“This one,” said Remus, pointing to a particularly nasty scar on his upper arm, “that’s the original.”

“Oh, you mean…but it looks like you got it a week ago,” said Sirius.

Remus shrugged. “They never really heal properly, I guess. The rest I did to myself.”

James’ breath hissed through his teeth. “While you were…”

“A wolf? Yeah. This one was from earlier this week,” he said, pointing to the newest scar along his side.

“Why?” said Sirius.

Remus took a deep breath. “It’s hard for me to understand what happens when I’m in that shape,” he said. “It’s all smell and sound – sight hardly comes into it at all. And I can never remember much – just little pieces. My best guess is that because I don’t have any humans to bite…” He broke off, turning red. “Sorry,” he said, rubbing his forehead in embarrassment.

“You don’t have to be sorry, mate,” said Sirius. “So you bite and scratch yourself instead? I was hoping there was something cool about being a werewolf.”

“Well, social ostracization, feeling sick half the time, turning into an uncontrollable monster once a month…I’ll let you know if I find anything cool about it.” Remus smirked, pulling his pajama shirt over his head.

“Aww, I was enjoying the show,” said James, grinning. Remus threw a pillow at him.

  
  


It was amazing how much happier Remus was, even at the end of October, when he started to feel the effects of the moon again. It started as a slight ache in his bones, a feeling of fatigue, quickly ramping up over a few days to aches all over, fever, and exhaustion. He was especially glad he didn’t have to hide his symptoms from his friends this time, as it seemed especially bad. By the night before the full moon, he sat at a table with Peter in the common room, trying to concentrate on his homework despite his shivering and stabbing pains in his arms and legs. Usually he’d have finished his homework as far in the future as possible, so he’d have a few days where he didn’t have to worry about it, but he’d been so distracted this time…

“Remus, are you feeling all right?” said Peter, whose voice seemed to echo down a long tunnel. Remus nodded, then grimaced, because the room had started spinning again. He lay his hands flat on the table to try to steady himself. The words in the book he was trying to read swam in and out of focus. At last he gave up, deciding he wasn’t going to get any more work done tonight. He packed away his books with deliberate movements, having to concentrate much more than usual. He swung his bag over his shoulder and stood up.

The world seemed to tip to the side, and he felt himself crash to the floor. There was a buzzing around the room he recognized as people standing up, people looking at him and talking – he had to get up, he had to…

What felt like either a very long or very short time later, he felt someone shaking his shoulder.

“Remus, are you okay?” came Sirius’ voice. “It’s not tonight, is it?” he leaned closer to whisper.

“No…tomorrow,” Remus whispered.

“Okay, everyone, he’s fine,” said Sirius, addressing the crowd at large. “He just has the flu. I’ll take him to bed.” He hauled Remus to his feet and steered him toward the boys’ dormitories, one hand under his arm to help him walk.

Supporting most of Remus’ weight, Sirius managed to haul him up the staircase to their room and over to the bed. Depositing him there, he went to get him a drink of water. Remus managed to sit up and drink most of it before setting the glass down and flopping back onto the bed. He was dimly aware of Sirius pulling off his shoes and yanking the covers out from under him to throw them over him.

Sirius sat down on his own bed. “Do you actually need to go to the hospital wing? I figured this would attract less attention, but we can get you there if you want. I sent Peter to get James. He should be finishing up Quidditch practice soon.”

“Not sure hospital wing can do anything for me,” said Remus. “Get better after tomorrow night.”

Sirius sighed. “I’m kind of surprised it took us this long to notice, if you’re going through this once a month.”

“Worse than usual. Don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”

Sirius frowned. “If you say so. I’ll be here, doing my homework if you need anything.”

Half an hour later, James came up the stairs, splattered with mud and looking windswept (more so than usual), with Peter trailing behind. James looked at Sirius.

“How’s he doing?” he asked, jerking his head toward the pile of covers that was Remus.

Sirius shrugged. “Sleeping, I think, but not great.”

James pulled off his muddy clothes and pulled clean ones on instead. He crossed over to Remus and pressed his hand to his forehead, his brow furrowed.

“Remus,” he said loudly. Remus’ eyes flickered, but he didn’t respond.

“All right, I’m calling it. He needs to go to the hospital wing.”

“Should we be moving him?” Sirius moved to stand over Remus’ bed too. 

“ _Wingardium Leviosa!_ ” said James, waving his wand. Remus rose gently off the bed, his covers still draped over him. “Grab my dad’s cloak,” said James. Sirius grabbed it and threw it over Remus, hiding him from view.

“Now I just have to make sure not to run him into anything,” said James, sticking the hand still clutching his wand into the pocket of his robes.

  
  


Remus regained consciousness as he floated down the corridor to the hospital wing. He decided he was probably still dreaming.

  
  


“Hmm…” said Miss Pomfrey, after they had settled Remus onto a bed in the hospital wing. “He seems to be ill on top of his…” she broke off, looking at them sharply.

“We know,” said Sirius.

“Ah. Good. I’m glad someone is looking out for him – he tends to do a poor job on his own.” She bustled to her office and back with a potion, pulling the stopper out carefully. She dripped a bit of it into his mouth and his eyes flickered open.

“Hello, Remus,” she said briskly. “I need you to drink this entire potion.” She measured some from the glass jar into a cup and handed it to him. “It will make your hands turn green, but that will wear off in a few hours.”

Remus drained the potion, and some of the color came back into his cheeks, though his hands did indeed turn a vivid shade of green.

“Fascinating,” said James, grabbing Remus’ forearm and pulling his hand closer for inspection. He looked at the other two, then released Remus’ arm. “My mum’s a Healer,” he said, by way of explanation. “How are you feeling, Remus?”

“Better, I think,” he said, the potion still coursing through him, lowering his fever and dulling his aches. “But…how did I get here?”


End file.
